A
rare, and rather complete collection of the early films made by
NEWSREEL (aka: Camera News Inc.) in the late 1960's. This body of
work is available, both on Beta, 3/4 inch and VHS formats.

The
archives are located in Richmond, Vermont and consist of 50 films,
thousands of photographs, hundreds of posters, buttons, T shirts,
and primary source documents that consist of articles, pamphlets,
small press booklets, leaflets, and other documents. The films were
made and distributed by Newsreel, a documentary film group that
began in l967. Newsreel groups and distribution centers were set
up across the United States including Vermont. Presently Third World
Newsreel, California Newsreel, and the Vermont Archives and Distribution
Center are in existence.

There
is a special collection of released Counterintelligence documents
on African Americans from l967-l971. These documents consist of
a computerized index of 350,000 pages. Scholars make use of the
extensive files that exist. They are broken down by subject, city,
and time lines.

The
majority of the archives are concerned with the political movements
of the '60's through '80's. For more information about the photographs
please call or write.

The
l960's are remembered as the age of activism - a period of tumultuous
upheaval in our country. During those years a small band of film makers
created a body of independent work that helped define and explain the
times.

They were not journalists in the conventional mechanistic sense -
but advocates and activists who used the medium of film to bring the
voices and the issues of their times to public attention. They saw
film as a weapon to put a the service of movements and struggles although
many of their productions were high quality and artistic.

They called
themselves NEWSREEL

Working
in decentralized film collectives in several cities, they produced many,
many films, mostly shot on l6 mm. Most were in black and white, as gritty
and realistic as the subjects they depicted. These were films of civil
rights and civil wrongs, of uprisings in communities and on campuses,
about the Vietnam War and the war at home against it. They are in some
cases angry films, as alienated from the forms of traditional newscasts
as anything that has been produced in our country. Some of the films
were produced in the spirit of similar work underway in Cuba and Vietnam.
Some were American originals - bringing the voices of change and changemakers
to the social movements of the era. These films were revolutionary in
spirit and commitment.

These are films that deserve to be seen and learned from. They are part
of a dissenting tradition of American film-making. They are also a record
of the emotions that made the 60's what they were. Some were agit-prop.
Some captured important moments of history. Most were populist in spirit
- while others were more intellectual but not in the sense of the "intellectual
property" everyone talks about today. These film makers did not seek
individual credit or promote themselves as Hollywood wanabees - although
some did end up making commercial films. They preferred anonymity and
a democratic approach to film making that may seem naive in world where
production is characterized by craft unions and a star system.D.
Schechter